Dads don't need to act like moms to be great parents

Asha Dornfest, Author of Minimalist Parenting, shares advice for dads on how
they don't need to act like moms to be great parents for dads, and shares
tips on how they can build strong relationships with their kids

Dads don't need to act like moms to be great parents

My tips for dads really are the same as my tips for moms in many ways. But what I would specifically say to dads is that you can feel comfortable being who you are for your children. If you are a playful person, be playful with your kids. If you are a strict person, that's ok too. I think it's really important for dads to understand that they don't need to act like moms in order to be fantastic parents, and that children really are so much more sophisticated than we give them credit for. I know my own father. He does not fit the mold of 'ideal dad' in that he was not a guy who wanted to play all the time, sit and heart to hearts with me. We don't talk on the phone very much. And yet we are very very close and we are very loving toward each other and we have a fantastic relationship. I've never doubted his support inme and his love for me. And yet he doesn't in any way fit the picture of what a 'good dad' might look like. I think it is really important to realize that your children can see you for who you are, when you love them and you care for them, that comes through strong and clear.

Asha Dornfest, Author of Minimalist Parenting, shares advice for dads on how they don't need to act like moms to be great parents for dads, and shares tips on how they can build strong relationships with their kids

Asha Dornfest

Author of Minimalist Parenting

Asha Dornfest is the co-author of Minimalist Parenting: Enjoy Modern Family Life More By Doing Less, and the founder of Parent Hacks, an award-winning website devoted to sharing “forehead-smackingly smart” parenting advice. Since its launch in 2005, Parent Hacks has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, Family Circle, and Parents, and has been named the “#1 Most Useful” of Babble’s Top 50 Mom Blogs three of the four years the honor has been given. Nielsen named Asha one of its 16 influential “Power Pack Moms,” and she has appeared in several TV and video broadcasts including CNN and ABC News Now. Asha lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.

My tips for dads really are the same as my tips for moms in many ways. But what I would specifically say to dads is that you can feel comfortable being who you are for your children. If you are a playful person, be playful with your kids. If you are a strict person, that's ok too. I think it's really important for dads to understand that they don't need to act like moms in order to be fantastic parents, and that children really are so much more sophisticated than we give them credit for. I know my own father. He does not fit the mold of 'ideal dad' in that he was not a guy who wanted to play all the time, sit and heart to hearts with me. We don't talk on the phone very much. And yet we are very very close and we are very loving toward each other and we have a fantastic relationship. I've never doubted his support inme and his love for me. And yet he doesn't in any way fit the picture of what a 'good dad' might look like. I think it is really important to realize that your children can see you for who you are, when you love them and you care for them, that comes through strong and clear.